Jet makes emergency landing at LaGuardia

A regional jet bound for Portland, Maine, was forced to make an emergency landing just minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport on Wednesday after officials said the crew reported an engine failure.

It was not immediately clear how many passengers were aboard Flight 6256, operated jointly by Delta and GoJet.

The plane, a twin-engine CR-700 built by Bombardier, suffered an engine failure in its No. 1 engine shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The crew then advised flight controllers that it would dump as much fuel as possible before returning to the airport, officials said.

The flight was scheduled to depart the Queens airport at 10:11 a.m.

It was back on the ground by about 10:45 a.m. with no injuries to passengers or crew, according to a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which runs the airport.

The small regional jet is generally configured to seat between 66 and 78 passengers.

In a statement released Wednesday, Delta said the crew "followed established procedures for an in-flight engine shutdown" that occurred "shortly after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Maine's Portland International Jetport."

That statement said that GoJet officials were examining the aircraft, while Delta worked to "reaccommodate customers at LaGuardia."